Contents

"The war had all but ground to a halt in the blink of an eye. Lucian, the most feared and ruthless leader ever to rule the Lycan clan, had finally been killed. The Lycan horde scattered to the wind in a single evening of flame and retribution. Victory, it seemed, was in our grasp, the very birthright of the Vampires. Nearly six centuries had passed since that night, yet the ancient feud proved unwilling to follow Lucian to the grave. Though Lycans were fewer in number, the war itself had become more perilous, for the moon no longer held her sway. Older, more powerful Lycans, were now able to change at will. The weapons had evolved, but our orders remained the same: Hunt them down and kill them off, one by one. A most successful campaign. Perhaps too successful. For those like me, a Death Dealer, this signaled the end of an era. Like the weapons of the previous century, we too would become obsolete. Pity, because I lived for it!"

"Of the scores of brave souls who entered Lucian's fortress, a single Vampire survived: Kraven, who was richly rewarded for not only setting the great blaze, but for returning with evidence of the Lycan Master's demise: The branded skin, cut from Lucian's very arm."

"Please forgive me, but I desperately need your guidance. I apologise for breaking the Chain and awakening you a head of schedule, but I fear we may all be in grave danger. Especially you, my Lord, if left in you weakened state. For I believe that Lucian is alive and well. Here, now, in this very city, preparing to hit us during the Awakening ceremony. Even more disturbing, is that if I am correct, then it would mean that Kraven is in league with him."

"It wasn't the Lycans... it was you!"

"Though I cannot predict the future, the consequences of this night will reverberate through the halls of both Great Covens for many years to come. Two Vampire Elders have been slain, one by my own hand. Soon, Marcus will take the throne, and a tide of anger and retribution will spill out into the night. Differences will be set aside. Allegiances will be made. And soon, I will become the hunted."

"I tried to swerve, but he hit us anyway. He sent us into the oncoming lane. When I came to, I realized that part of the engine was in the front seat, and she was pinned there, six inches from me... in this horrible position. I think she was in shock, she just kept asking me over and over again if I was alright. She was more worried about me. You know, if I'd known then what I know now, I could have saved her. There is no doubt in my mind about that. Instead, she died right there, not two minutes before the ambulance arrived. After that, I didn't see any reason to stick around. I spent a summer here with my grandfather, when I was a kid. So, after I got my degree, I just took off. I came over here to move on, to forget. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"We were slaves once. The daylight guardians of the Vampires. I was born into servitude. Yet I harbored them no ill will. Even took a Vampire for my bride. It was forbidden, our union. Viktor feared a blending of the species. Feared it so much he killed her. His own daughter... Burnt alive for loving me. This is his war - Viktor's, and he's spent the last 600 years exterminating my species."

"Let me tell you a little something about your beloved Dark Father: He's the one that killed your family, not the Lycans. Never could follow his own rules, said he couldn't abide the taste of livestock. So every once in a while, he'd go out and gorge himself on human blood. I kept his secrets, cleaned up the mess; but it was he who crept room to room, dispatching everyone close to your heart. But when he got to you, he just couldn't bear the thought of draining you dry. You, who reminded him so much of his precious Sonja, the daughter he condemned to death."

"The Chain has never been broken, not once, not in fourteen centuries, not since we Elders first began to leapfrog through time. One awake, two asleep; that's the way of it. It is Marcus's turn to reign, not mine!"

"I loved my daughter! But the abomination growing in her womb was a betrayal of me, and of the Coven! I did what was necessary to protect the species, as I am forced to do yet again!"

Selene: "Something was in the stable, tearing our horses to pieces. I couldn't have saved my mother, or my sister; their screams woke me. My father died outside, trying to fend them off. I stood at my door, ready to run to my nieces' room when... Twin girls, barely six years old, butchered like animals."

Michael: "Jesus Christ."

Selene: The next thing I knew, I was in his arms. The war had spilled into our house. He'd been tracking the Lycans for days. He drove them off and saved me."

Michael: "Who?"

Selene: Viktor. The oldest and strongest of us. That night, he made me a Vampire. He gave me the strength to avenge my family. Since then, I've never looked back."

Singe: "For years, we've been trying to combine the bloodlines. And for years, we've failed. It was useless. Even at the cellular level, our species seemed destined to destroy each other. Yet the key, we knew, was to locate the rarest of bloodlines; a direct descendant of Alexander Corvinus: Hungarian; a warlord who came to power in the early seasons of the 5th century. Just in time to watch a plague ravage his village. He alone survived. Somehow, his body was able to change the disease, mold it to his benefit. He became the first true immortal. And years later, he fathered at least two children who inherited this same trait.

Viktor: The sons of the Corvinus Clan: One bitten by bat, one by wolf, one to walk the lonely road of mortality as a human. It's a ridiculous legend, nothing more!"

Singe: "That may be, but our species do share a common ancestor."

Viktor: "There is a descendant of Corvinus lying there, not three feet from you."

Singe: "Yes, but he is already a Vampire. We needed a pure source, untainted; an exact duplicate of the original virus. The Corvinus Strain itself, which we learned was hidden away in the genetic code of his human descendants. Passed along in its dormant form, down through the ages, to Michael Corvin. His blood allows for a perfect union of our two species."